The Reds' biggest problem isn't ownership, it's Nick Krall

Apparently, Nick Krall isn't the Cincinnati Reds' biggest problem. At least that's what some of the top baseball media personalities would have you believe. Both Ken Rosenthal and C. Trent Rosecrans made the rounds earlier this week and thrust the blame for Cincinnati's lack of success squarely onto the shoulders of the Reds' ownership group.

"I would say it rests, with the Reds, on ownership more than anything else," Rosenthal said during an appearance on the Foul Territory Podcast.

"Right now, they're being run by a guy, Bob Castellini, who has not had success," Rosenthal continued. "Who has not shown his franchise can be like the Brewers, like the Tampa Bay Rays, like a team in his own state, the Cleveland Guardians. They've not been a successful small-market team."

But Rosenthal wasn't the only anti-Reds-ownership personality to stop by and chat with the crew from Foul Territory. Longtime Reds' beat writer C. Trent Rosecrans also shared his thoughts on the matter.

"It's ownership," Rosecrans said. "And it has been ownership. You look at the trends in this franchise, since 2007, they've not been able to go quite over the hump. Or make the big shocking moves. Everything has been on the margins and on the cheap."

Now, no one who's watched the Reds over the past two decades is going to argue that Bob and Phil Castellini haven't been part of the problem. To what extent ownership is involved in the day-to-day operations of the organization is unknown.

Nick Krall is a much, much bigger problem than the Reds' ownership

But under no circumstances does Krall get a free pass because of who his bosses are. During Rosenthal's foolish rant, he mentioned three franchises — the Brewers, Rays, and Guardians. All three have much lower payrolls than the Reds, and yet they've been miles better than Cincinnati for as long as Krall's been at the helm. So thank you, Ken, for making my point for me. The Reds haven't underachieved due to a lack of spending money, but they've spent money on the wrong players.

Here's a list of the Reds' Major League free agent signings since Krall was promoted to general manager in 2019. (He succeeded Dick Williams as head of baseball operations in 2021.)

• Zach Duke ($2M)
• Mike Moustakas ($64M)
• Nick Castellanos ($64M)
• Shogo Akiyama ($21M)
• Wade Miley ($15M)
• Pedro Strop ($1.8M)
• Sean Doolittle ($1.5M)
• Hunter Strickland ($1.8M)
• Tommy Pham ($7.5M)
• Wil Myers ($7.5M)
• Donovan Solano ($4.5)
• Luke Weaver ($2M)
• Luke Maile ($1.1M)
• Eugenio Suárez ($15M)

That's $176.7 million (Castellanos opted out of the final two years of his deal) that the Reds have spent on free agents over the past eight seasons, and those 14 players have accounted for a grand total of 8.5 bWAR. On the open market, a 1 WAR player is worth approximately $8-$11 million. The Reds paid $20.8 million.

But it gets worse. Below is list of all the major trades Krall has presided over since taking over the reins from Williams following the 2020 season.

• Sonny Gray, Francis Peguero to the Twins for Chase Petty
• Eugenio Suárez, Jesse Winker to the Mariners for Brandon Williamson, Jake Fraley, Justin Dunn, Connor Phillips
• Luis Castillo to the Mariners for Noelvi Marte, Edwin Arroyo, Levi Stoudt, Andrew Moore
• Tyler Mahle to the Twins for Spencer Steer, Christian Encarnacion-Strand, Steve Hajjar
• Taylor Rogers, Sammy Stafura to the Pirates for Ke'Bryan Hayes
• Mike Sirota to the Dodgers for Gavin Lux
• Christian Encarnacion-Strand to the Orioles for cash considerations
• Tyler Naquin to the Mets for Héctor Rodríguez, José Acuña

Outside of Steer and (maybe) Rodriguez, the returns have been rather abysmal. The jury is still out on the likes of Williamson, Arroyo, and Petty, but not one of the 16 players the Reds received in return are anywhere close to an All-Star caliber performer.

Gray, however, is leading the way for a Red Sox rotation that's heading to the postseason. Mahle was arguably the best pickup at this year's trade deadline. Stafura has a .909 OPS in the minor leagues this season, and Sirota is a top-50 prospect in baseball. Then there's Encarnacion-Strand — a player the Reds didn't have to DFA — who's now finding success in Baltimore.

Yes, the ownership group has not lived up to their promises. That's apparent. But can we please stop pretending that Krall isn't culpable. I know most Reds fans understand this, but it would seem that some of the talking heads in the media received their marching orders — blame ownership. Sorry, Ken. Sorry, C. Trent. Anyone with two eyes and a brain can see that Krall is huge reason why the Reds are in this mess.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow